Tom Wingfield looks back on his relationship with his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura, all of whom were abandoned by patriarch Mr. Wingfield 16 years earlier. Tom chafes at his dead-end job, while Amanda longs for the security of the past and frets anxiously about prospects for Laura, who has a crippled foot that has left her vulnerable and insecure. Tom invites a friend to dinner, whom Laura has known from school, raising Amanda's and Laura's hopes that a romantic match is possible.